ArticleFrontiers in plant science2026
Calcium application synergistically enhances yield and nutritional quality in waxy maize.
Article in Frontiers in plant science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Optimizing the yield and nutritional quality of waxy maize is essential to meet evolving consumer demands and ensure food security. Calcium plays a vital role in plant physiology, but its foliar application effects on the synergistic improvement of yield and kernel nutritional traits across diverse waxy maize hybrids remain underexplored. Methods: This study investigated the effects of foliar-applied calcium chloride (CaCl Results: The treatment slightly suppressed plant and ear height, but significantly increased ear length, ear diameter, and fresh weight per ear. Photosynthetic analysis revealed that 34 out of 36 hybrids exhibited a significant increase in net photosynthetic rate (ranging from 4.5% to 230%), while two hybrids showed non-significant increases. SPAD values showed non-significant increases, suggesting that calcium enhanced the operational efficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus rather than chlorophyll content. Concurrently, the treatment significantly enhanced kernel nutritional quality. Soluble sugar content increased by 1.1-17%, crude protein by 1.5-24.8%, and key micronutrients-zinc (2.7-13.8%), iron (1.7-15.4%), and calcium (1.6-15.3%)-were significantly elevated. Correlation analysis revealed that soluble sugar content was highly significantly and positively correlated with ear length and diameter, and that increases in soluble sugar and protein were significantly associated with micronutrient accumulation. Discussion: These findings indicate that exogenous CaCl₂ optimizes source-sink balance by improving photosynthetic efficiency and assimilate partitioning, thereby driving a synergistic enhancement of yield and nutritional quality in waxy maize. This work provides a physiological basis and a practical agronomic strategy for the targeted biofortification and yield improvement of maize.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.